This already sounds controversial doesn’t it? What’s more, we launched our new menu last night with vegan dishes integrated into the main dinner menu and had our first vegan customer complaining that we had reduced the number of vegan options available to them. It’s going to be a rocky path.

I think I’m right in saying that we were the first restaurant in Worcester to produce a completely separate vegan menu (over three years ago now). In many ways we’ve championed the growth in vegan dishes in these parts and have been keen to do so. Many of our staff and friends are vegan. It makes a huge amount of sense that the world embraces veganism and our kitchen are well able to produce great vegan food. Let’s not forget also that it makes economic sense from my point of view to try and cater for a fast-growing sector of the market.

So, with all that in mind, what’s going on at The Rec? Why have we integrated the vegan menu into our core menu? Have we lost our minds?

Well, let me explain.

1) A separate vegan menu is divisive

Most of the vegans I know simply want to go about their lives as we all do. The fact that they have decided to follow a plant-based diet is a simple, personal choice that they have made and they don’t (as is often suggested in the media) constantly “bang-on” about being vegan. At either end of this group however are those that don’t follow a vegan diet and find it somehow offensive that some people choose to do so, together with those vegans that find it equally offensive that some people choose not to follow the vegan path. I find both of these groups quite tiresome.

Whilst I used to take pride in being able to offer a separate vegan menu, increasingly (particularly when we are actually at a customer’s table), it has felt like we are propagating the notion that there are two separate types of customer. That somehow people are different “breeds”. Sometimes it even feels like we are fuelling the “conflict” between vegans and non-vegans. Often we offer the vegan menu to a table and the response is “I won’t be needing that” or, in some cases, “why would I look at that s**t?”. Hardcore vegans (for want of a better term) can be just as disparaging about our non-vegan menu (though they do tend to be slightly less voluble about it to be honest).

Now, this is all quite hard to stomach for me and my staff. We work equally hard on preparing all of our dishes and to have them disparaged to our faces (sometimes in no uncertain terms) is NOT NICE PEOPLE! Everyone please relax and just choose what you would like to eat!

It’s also starting to feel strange when there is a table of mixed vegans and non-vegans. It feels uncomfortable both for us and I think for some vegans when they ask to see their “own menu”. It then feels slightly patronising to hand-over a separate menu. Choosing to be vegan shouldn’t make people feel like they’ve done something wrong or that they’re “ill” somehow.

I just think that separate menus add to some king of stigma attached to being vegan whereas, in reality, as far as we are concerned, it’s mind-blowingly obvious that all people have the right to eat whatever they wish and we should all just relax and just choose what you would like to eat!

2) We aren’t cutting the vegan menu down

The customer last night who complained that we had cut-down the number of vegan options was wrong I’m afraid.

As I’ve already mentioned we are trying to “blur the lines” between vegan and non-vegan. If the dish is good enough it will go onto our menu…..full stop,. We have the same number of vegan dishes today as we did last week. Nearly half of our starters are vegan. Nearly half of our desserts are vegan. We currently have three main course vegan options and that will only rise in the future.

3) Increased focus on vegan dishes

One of the dangers of having a separate menu of dishes that don’t sell as frequently as those on the “main menu” is that the focus slips and, quite understandably in economic terms, we focus on changing/updating/tweaking those dishes that sell the best. If a restaurant is not careful they may find that they prioritise the development of one menu over another. Frankly, there have been occasions when we’ve launched new menus without having the time to make as many changes to the vegan menu as we would like. There are only so many hours in the day and sometimes it was just not possible to overhaul the whole vegan menu. That will no longer be the case. As we are making no distinction between the merits of vegan/non vegan dishes, by default, all dishes will be changed/updated/tweaked with the same attention to detail. This means greater choice for vegans. More frequent changes for vegans and a far better experience all round.

4) Increased exposure to vegan dishes for non-vegans

If the world’s aim is to convert more people to veganism (which it should be) and if we would like to see more non-vegans eating vegan dishes (which we do) then it’s blindingly obvious that a separate menu means that it’s unlikely that non-vegans will even know what we offer in the way of vegan food. One of the joys of our job is “surprising” people and when we get a devout meat-eater extolling the virtues of a vegan dish it’s always very flattering. It underlines just how talented our chefs are and always makes us feel pretty darn good about ourselves. With the menus integrated this will happen more and more and we’re looking forward to it. The picture accompanying this piece shows our new Apple Cider Doughnuts with Sticky Caramel Sauce. They happen to be vegan. Shouldn’t they be enjoyed by all customers that come through our door?

Now, hopefully this explains our actions and shows that this is not a retrograde step but a positive response to the future of dining. I’m sure that over the coming years it will be seen as archaic to continue to run a separate vegan menu. I know that there will be some people that complain about it. I understand that some vegans will feel that they’ve somehow had something taken away from them. In reality they’ve had nothing taken away from them and I honestly feel that we’ve given vegans what they should be striving for….complete equality in a dining experience.